Wendell Pfeffer
Social Foundations 1
There
were many different perspectives on what defines humaneness. In class today we
were trying to figure out if whether or not humaneness stems from a persons
actions or the individual himself. Like I said in class, humaneness is
impossible to achieve through action as even the master refers to his peer that
he is unable to achieve humaneness because he is not a gentlemen. The idea
behind the master’s explanation of the gentlemen and humaneness both
intertwine. Thus, one is only able to acquire humaneness if they are born with
that quality. Those that are not born with that quality are only able to do
respectable things that can lead up humaneness, but will never be able to
achieve it. Like Ashley said in class “were not achieving humaneness because we
cannot achieve abstraction.” This idea of abstraction can more so be related to
the idea that Tory introduced in class – fitness. Anyone that commits to going
to the gym must continually go in order too not only retain their physique but
to keep on building towards it. Perfection is never achieved in the eyes of a
person that goes to the gym day in and day out. It is the same thing with
humaneness. You must have the desire and motivation to work towards humaneness
but you will never actually reach it.
I don't really understand where you are going with the notion of innate humaneness. You wrote, "one is only able to acquire humaneness, if they are born with that quality." First, I do not believe humaneness was ever mentioned in the Analects to be an innate quality. Second, I do not believe that humaneness--as discussed in class today--is at all a "quality." Because humaneness is an abstract concept that has no uniform definition, it is impossible for it to be labeled as a quality. Lastly, seeing as humaneness is this abstraction, it can never be "acquired," as you put it. How can you acquire something that is merely an idea?
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ethan. Ashley emphasized in class that humaneness was the abstraction and man consistently making the effort to become 'good' was the reality. One certainly can not obtain abstraction if it is not reality, nor can you have a "desire" to attain something that does not have a precise end point. We recognized in class that there is first a self-reflection upon one's intentions before acting, in order to understand humaneness. There is danger in having "desire and motivation" (as you say) because doing something for the wrong reason is considered inhumane by the Master.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ethan's post. When professor Vaught said that humaneness is like an "ideal", I took it to mean that it is simply an abstract concept that people try to act in accordance with in order to live a "proper" life, per se. How this ideal was brought into existence is a bit iffy, as Jessica questioned in class, but the Master's explanation of a gentleman is merely based off of what would theoretically bring someone close to humaneness rather than what would make the person achieve humaneness.
ReplyDeleteWhile we did in fact establish in class that humanness is an abstract ideal that cannot be achieved, I do not think that one could assert that humanness is something that a person is born without. They are at least born with a sense of it, an innate tendency for it. Confucius says that virtue will in turn breed more virtue. In the same way that people are drawn to virtue, people must be drawn towards humanness, showing that they have a natural sense to act with humanness, and are attracted to people who show this similar quality.
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